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LEIF ERIKSON. 


MISS MARIE A. BROWN’S PLEA BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE 
OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE ON THE CENTENNIAL OF THE 
CONSTITUTION AND THE DISCOVERY' OF AMERICA, FOR RECOG- 
NITION OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA EY LEIF ERIKSON, 
A. D. 1000. 


In the commemoration of what is strictly an historical event, the 
strictest conformity to historical truth is of imperative necessity ; a na- 
tion can not be justified in having auy other motive for such an act. 
Patriotism, sentiment, hero worship, the idealizing of any person con- 
nected with the event to be commemorated, are also only justified when 
in the strictest conformity to historical truth. 

This American Republic is contemplating an act of the gravest import, 
the celebration of the greatest achievement ki its history, the discovery 
of this continent. Just at the very moment the achievement is ascribed 
to a certain man, and fixed at a certain date, historical facts declare 
that the man in question was not the discoverer of this country, that 
the date is five hundred years too late, and that the honor must, if the 
nation values its integrity or acknowledges fealty to the truth, the honor 
must he given to the predecessor, to the discoverer , and not to his follower 
or imitator, the man who profited by his discovery. 

I stand before you, gentlemen, as the spokesman of this historical 
fact, knowing that this fact can not but be respected by this nation, and 
duly observed in its every act. When I enunciate this historical fact, 
it is not my voice alone that does it; it is the united voice of the na- 
tions of the Scandinavian North; it is the united voice of the Scan- 
dinavians of the United States, who, were this fact recognized by the 
nation they have adopted, would at once be transformed from aliens 
into compatriots, sharing our pride in a common ancestry ; it is the 
united voice of Great Bril ain, Germany, France ; it is the voice of all the 
learned societies of Europe; it is the voice of Iceland, uttered through 
her archives, through the proud consciousness of every man and woman 
born to that island for nearly a thousand years, through the many vol- 
umes of ancient Icelandic manuscripts preserved in the libraries of Co- 
penhagen, Stockholm, and Christiania; through the tomes upon tomes 
of ecclesiastical records, the annals of the administrations of the Cfairch 
of Rome in Greenland for six centuries and in Yinland for probably a 
correspondingly long period, that lie buried in the libraries of the Eter- 
nal City. 

A brief of Pope Nicholas Y, dated September 20, 1418, slating that 
the Icelandic inhabitants of Greenland had been Christians for six hun- 
dred years, and had erected many sacred buildings and a splendid 

18160 

\ 


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V 


2 


cathedral there, was found some years ago in the Vatican by Professor 
Mallet, of Geneva. Other Popes’ bulls have been discovered relating 
to ecclesiastical affairs in Greenland. The Pilot, at the time of the un- 
veiling of the Leif Erikson statue in Boston, contained an editorial in 
which it was said that — 


From the Catholic Church’s eighteen centuries of unbroken records the advocates 
of the Norseman’s right to priority among American discoverers have drawn the 
strongest evidence in proof of their claim; for here are noted the names and deeds of 
the missionaries who followed the sea-kings to the New World. 

Father Bodlish, of the cathedral in Boston, in his paper read a year 
ago before the Bostonian Society, on the discovery of America by the 
Northmen, is reported to have quoted — 

as corroborative authority the. account given in standard history of the Catholic 
Church of the establishment of a bishopric in Greenland in 1112 A. D., and he added 
the interesting suggestion that, as it is the duty of a bishop so placed at a distance 
to report from time to time to the Pope, not only on ecclesiastical matters, but of the 
geography of the country and character of the people, it is probable that Columbus 
had the benefit of the knowledge possessed at Rome thus derived. It is [he said] 
stated in different biographies of Columbus that, when the voyage was first proposed 
by him, he found difficulty in getting Spanish sailors to go with him in so doubtful 
an undertaking. After Columbus returned from a visit to Rome with information 
there obtained, these sailors, or enough of them, appear to have had their doubts or 
fears removed, and no difficulty in enlistment was experienced. 

The reverend superior of St. Benedict’s Industrial School at'Skida- 
way Island, Savannah, Fr. P. Oswald Moosmuller, has informed me, 
in two private letters, dated September I and 3 of last year, that he has 
written a book entitled u Europeans in America before Columbus,” and 
that he collected materials for this book in Rome about twenty years 
ago. To quote his own words : 

Although the best libraries of the past, i. e., the Bibliotheca Angelica, in charge of 
the Angustinians, and the Bibliotheca Cassanathense, at the Minerva, in charge of the 
Dominicans, have since been broken up and dispersed, yet other sources of the greatest 
value for an historian have been made accessible of late, viz, the archives of the Vati- 
can, which at my time were in charge of the aged oratorian Dr. Theiner, as custodian. 
There is the place where you can procure authentic data and the most interesting 
documents concerning the bishops of Iceland and Greenland. 

In this book there is an especial chapter relating to Columbus, headed : 
a Christopher Columbus confers with Bishop Magnus, of Skalliolt, the 
former abbot of Helgafell, in the year 1477.” This is so important 
that I must quotef it. He says : 


In the archives of Iceland are found authentic records which testify that Columbus 
arrived from England in a Bristol merchant-ship, and landed in the harbor of Hval- 
fjardareyri, in the southern part of Iceland, in February of the year 1477. This harbor 
used at that time to be frequently visited by foreign traders, especially from England 
and Ireland. Columbus himself says that in the before-named year the sea that 
washes round the island (which nearly approaches England in size) was quite free 
from ice. Voyages to Iceland at this time of the year are not altogether unusual, but 
the entire absence of snow is very rare. But it is corroborated by the public records 
of Iceland that this actually occurred in the months of February and March in the 
year 1477. In this way a remarkable coincidence occurred. 

At that time one of the most prominent personages among the clergy of Iceland was 
the Benedictine Magnus, son of Egolf, who in the year 1470 was nominated abbot of 
the monastery of Helgafell. Helgafell might, in respect to the earliest voyages of 
disci: very of the Icelanders to America, be called classic ground, for out of this very 
neighborhood had set forth the first discoverers and colonists of Greenland and other 
parts of America. * * * 

In the year 1475 Magnus, abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Helgafell, was 
consecrated bishop of Skalliolt by Archbishop Gauto, of Drontheim. In the winter 
of the year 1477 it now happened that Bishop Magnus visited the churches of his dio- 
cese on the peninsula of Hvalfjardareyri at the very time when Christopher Colum- 
bus land' d in the haven of the same name. The bishop met with Columbus, and they' £ 


I 


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conversed in tbe Latin language. Columbus inquired concerning the western lands 

(as Rain, in the preface to the “ Antiquitates Americana*,” p. xxiv, note 1, says, “ 

to him, inquiring concerning western lands ”). 

But what information thereupon and, generally, what answer Bishop Magnus gave 
Columbus, remains still a matter of hypothesis, upon which nothing has yet been 
found in authentic writings. To be sure, there are several grounds that permit us to 
accept the Theory that Bishop Magnus related to Columbus all about the well-known 
discoveries of the western lands by the Icelanders, since there can be no doubt that 
the bishop himself had adequate knowledge of these discoveries ; for they not only 
formed a part of the history of his fatherland, but also belonged to the oral tradi- 
tions of the inhabitants of Helgafell, and moreover were preserved in the written 
chronicles of the monastery of which he had been abbot. * * * 

It would be superfluous hereon once more to point out that the knowledge of the 
existence of western lands, and consequently of America, was in no Avise confined to 
Iceland. 


This author makes another statement of direct practical value to us. 
He says : 


For the elucidation of these voyages to unknown lands in these remote times, 
there is placed at the disposal of the historian a proportionately rich source of ma- 
terial. A series of parchment manuscripts remain extant in which more or less men- 
tion of America occurs, evidently under the names used by the Icelanders.. Also a 
quantity of paper manuscripts, which, howe\ r er, mostly coutain only accounts from 
old parchment documents at present lost, should not remain unregarded. 


It is to search these buried records iu Rome, the annals of six hun- 
dred years of American history, that I ask the support and aid of the 
Government of the United States. It is not to authorize or aid the re- 
searches of a private individual in an abstruse subject of little or no 
practical importance; it is not to substantiate a vague theory or tradition 
of discovery ; it is not to prove the fact that America was discovered 
by Leif Erikson, the Icelander, in the year 1000, for that is already 
proved ; but to collect and put into the possession of the United States, 
for preservation in its archives, all the evidence of this discovery ac- 
cumulated for centuries in Rome through the ecclesiastical interests, 
that made such annals and reports of the first importance to the Church. 
These annals comprise the parish life of the Vinland colonies, founded 
in the year 1000, the reports of the several bishops, which, as Father 
Bodfish has asserted, not only treated of ecclesiastical matters, but 66 of 
the geography of the country and character of the people.” It is not 
right that this nation should lack the evidence, the full accounts, of the 
events in its own early history, especially when these are in possession 
of the different countries of Europe, giving the people of the Old AVorld 
a knowledge of the Icelandic discovery and settlement of America not 


as yet attained by Americans themselves. 

I therefore petition Congress to grant mean appropriation adequate 
to the accomplishment of this grand object, which I pledge myself to 
undertake and carry through, with the able assistance of an English 
friend of mine, Mr. John B. Shipley, of London, a gentleman admirably 
qualified for the work, and as well versed in the subject as I am myself. 
The labor of the search, of deciphering and transcribing manuscript, and 
of preparing documents for publication by the Government is obviously 
too great for me to perform entirely alone and unaided ; and as Mr. 
Shipley has been associated with me in my entire work this season to 
effect recognition of the Icelandic discovery, he is the proper person to 
assist me in the investigation in Rome and in the preparations for the 
proposed Viking exhibition- — the erection of the Viking hall, the col- 
lecting of relics and antiquities for exhibition from the various mu- 
seums of Europe, etc. But for the co-operation of such a friend as Mr. 
Shipley, who holds the same views as myself on the subject and under- 
stands the conditions and requirements abroad, thus being able to fa- 


4 


cilitate my negotiations in foreign countries, I could not carry out my 
plan. Mr. Shipley is now in London, and will join me at an early date. 

It has been sufficiently demonstrated that the heads of the church in 
Rome knew of the Icelandic discovery of America at the time, the date 
of the discovery, the year 1000, having been the exact date of the con- 
version of the entire Scandinavian north to Christianity, and that the 
Catholic Church, the only church then, was quick to profit by this dis 
covery and establish its own institutions in the new colonies across the 
ocean. Rome being possessed of these facts, Columbus, a devoted son 
of the church, could not have failed to be. The knowledge he obtained 
in Rome he verified in Iceland, during his visit there in 1477. The 
famous French geographer, Malte-Brun, states in his 66 History of Geog- 
raphy” that u Columbus, when in Italy, had heard of the Norse discov- 
eries beyond Iceland, for Rome was then the world’s center, and all in- 
foimation of importance was sent there.” It is known also that Gu- 
drid, the wife of Thorfinn Korlsefne, the principal colonist of Yinland 
(the present Massachusetts and Rhode Island*), made a pilgrimage to 
Rome, in about 1006 or 1008, and told the holy fathers all about her 
three years’ stay in Yinland. Gabriel Gravier, in his able work, “The 
discovery of America by the Northmen,” says of this visit of Gudrid’s : 

It is related that she was well received, and she certainly must have talked there 
of her ever-memorable transoceanic voyage to Yinland and her three years’ residence 
there. Rome paid much attention to geographical discoveries, and took pains to col- 
lect all new charts and reports that were brought there. Every new discovery was 
an aggrandizement of the papal dominion, a new field for the preaching of the Gospel. 

“ Every new discovery was an aggrandizement of the papal dominion .” 
In these words we have the secret of Columbus’s operations. The 
Church having full knowledge of the existence of the western conti- 
nent, discovered by men of a race that the Church had no intention of 
glorifying, and Columbus being an obedient tool of that Church, the 
means were at command for effecting a rediscovery of that continent, 
and for obtaining for the Church, and its minion, all the glory of a vast 
original achievement ! 

So Columbus was dispatched to Iceland and put into communication 
with* a bishop belonging to the order of Benedictines, the same order 
who, according to Father Moosmiiller, had effected the conversion of 
the entire Scandinavian north to Christianity, Ansgarius, the first 
apostle to the north, having been a Benedictine, as were also several 
of the bishops of Iceland. This Bishop Magnus, with whom Columbus 
conversed in the Latin language, had, as we have seen, the records of 
the Icelandic discovery of America in his own monastery. The learned 
Icelander, Finn Magnusen, who, according to the testimony of Cham- 
bers’s Encyclopedia, and other authorities, u has conclusively established 
the fact that Columbus did visit Iceland in 1477, fifteen years before he 
undertook his great expedition across the Atlantic,” calls attention to a 
remarkable coincidence, which is this: 

Magnus Eiolfson was bishop of Skalholt, in Iceland; since 1470 lie had been abbot 
of the monastery of Helgafell, t lie place where the oldest documents relating to 
Greenland, Yinland, and the various parts of America discovered by the Northmen 
had been written, and where they were doubtless carefully preserved, as it was from 
this very district that the most distinguished voyagers had gone forth. These docu- 
ments must have been well known to Bishop Magnus, as were their general contents 
throughout the island, and it is therefore in the highest degree improbable that Co- 
lumbus, whose mind had been filled with the idea of exploring a western continent 
since the year 1474, should have omitted r,o seek for and receive information respect- 
ing these early voyages. 


* These localities are fixed by Humboldt in the second volume of the 


“ Cosmos .” 


0 


This same author, Finn Magnusen, in his article in the Kordisk Tids- 
skrift, which established the fact of Columbus’s visit to Iceland, writes 
furthermore : 


The English trade with Iceland certainly merits the consideration of historians, if 
it furnished Columbus with the opportunity of visiting that island, there to be in- 
formed of the historical evidence respecting the existence ot important lands and a 
large continent in the vv st. If Columbus should have acquired a knowledge of the 
accounts transmitted to us of the discoveries of the Northmen in conversations held 
in Latin with the Bishop of Skalholt and the learned men of Iceland, we may the 
more readily conceive his firm belief in the possibility of rediscovering a western 
continent, and his unwearied zeal in putting his plans in execution. The discovery 
of America, so momentous in its results, may therefore he regarded as the mediate 
consequence of its previous discovery by the Scandinavians, which may he thus 
placed among the most important events of former ages. 

The testimony of Bayard Taylor, in bis description of Iceland, is also 
important. His words are : 


It is impossible that the knowledge of these voyages should not have been cur- 
rent in Iceland in 1477, wlnm Columbus, sailing in a ship from Bristol, England, vis- 
ited the island. . As he was able to converse with the priests and learned men in Latin 
he undoubtedly learned of the existence of another continent to the west and south ; 
and this knowledge, not the mere fanaticism of a vague belief, supported him during 
many years of disappointment. 

A writer in the Foreign Quarterly Review asks very pertinently — 

But what could he more to his purpose, or better adapted to his views, than the 
fact that the Northmen, the boldest of navigators, had knowledge of a land in the 
west whicn they supposed to extend far southwards till it met Africa? Or could not 
the intelligent Genoese find some suggestion in the following more accurate state- 
ment of an Icelandic geographer : “ On the west of the great sea of Spain, which some 
call Ginnnngagap, and leaning somewhat towards the north, the first land which 
occurs is the good Vinland ?” 

That Columbus folly expected to find a continent, and knew with ab- • 
solute certainty that such existed from the evidence of the Icelandic dis* 

i/ 

covery that he had seen both in Rome and Iceland, is proved by the 
terms of his compact with the King and Queen of Spain : 


(1) He wishes to be made admiral of the seas and countries which he is about to 
discover. He desires to hold this dignity during his life, and that it should descend 
to his heirs. 

(2) Christopher Columbus wishes to he made viceroy of all the continents and is- 
lands. 

(3) He wishes to have a share, amounting to a tenth part, of the profits of all mer- 
chandise, he it pearls, jewels, or any other things that may be found, gained, bought, 
or exported from the countries which he is to discover, 


and other clauses of similar import. 

In the various petitions to the Spanish sovereigns made by Columbus 
and his patrons — his patrons being men high in the Catholic Church, 
not scientists — the inducements held out were never those of accom- 
plishing a great discovery, of exploring and opening up new territory 
for civilization and development, but, on the contrary, the only incen- 
tive that was used to kindle the royal zeal was expressed in the words 
of Luis de St. Angel in his well known appeal to Queen Isabella: u He 

reminded her of how much might be done for the glory of God, the ex- 
altation of the church, and the extension of her own power and domin- 
ion.” If we turn to Columbus’s own views on the subject, and motives, 
as expressed in his letters, we find the same thing : 


I gave to the subject [he writes] six or seven years of great anxiety, explaining to 
the best of my ability how great service might be done to our Lord by this under- 
taking, in promulgating His sacred name and our holy faith among so many nations ; 
an enterprise so exalted in itself, and so calculated to enhance the glory and im- 
mortalize the renown of great sovereigns. 


6 


J. J. Barry, one of Columbus’s Roman Catholic biographers, states 
distinctly tnat u the first object of the discovery, disengaged from every 
human consideration, was, therefore, the glorification of the Redeemer 
and the extension of His Church.” He adds, naively : u Historians 

have hitherto left this circumstance unnoticed, or in a state of vague 
confusion.” But I will endeavor to repair this omission, though from 
a very different motive than actuated Barry, by calling the attention 
of this whole nation to the fact that Columbus’ s enterprise teas simply 
and solely a missionary undertaking on a grand scale , under the patron- 
age of the Spanish sovereigns and the Church of Rome. Barry gives 
repeated confirmation to this, for in alluding to the famous bull of 
Pope Alexander VI, he says : “And here we see visibly the partici- 
pation of the church in the discovery.” He adds: “All the sympathies 
of the Holy Fattier and of the Sacred College were in favor of Columbus.” 

Rossely de Lorgues, another Catholic biographer of Columbus, affirms 
that “Columbus did not owe his great celebrity to his genius or science, 
but only to his vocation, to his faith, and to the divine grace.” This 
author shows that the real aim of Christopher Columbus was a ransom 
of the Holy Sepulchre by means of the riches to be found in the new 
region. 

All the evidence, accordingly, goes to show that the motive of Colum- 
bus, of all his ecclesiastical patrons, Juan Perez, Deza (who was the 
successor of the infamous inquisitor-general, Torquemada), the Grand 
Cardinal Mendoza, Lois de St. Angel, Ferdinand and Isabella, was 
simply and solely papal aggrandizement, the gaining of vast new ter- 
ritory for proselyting purposes ; in other words, the establishing of the 
future empire of the pope on the western continent in the event of its 
finally being supplanted in Europe by the new heresy, Lutheranism and 
the Reformation. This has been aptly stated recently by Mr. Addison 
Child, in a letter to the Boston Transcript. Alluding to the Icelandic 
discoveries, he wrote : 


But the reason that these and probably earlier discoveries were not more noticed 
and utilized was that the need of another continent to conquer and colonize had not 
arisen and did not rise until nearly the end of the fifteenth century. 


The advent of Luther and the incipient heresy that preceded him, led 
to the restoring of the inquisition in Spain for the suppression of 
heresy, and also led to the discovery, so called, of America by Christo- 
pher Columbus, the land that was to be made the future and perma- 
nent stronghold of the Church of Rome. 

The vital and all-absorbing question now is, whether this American 
Republic, founded on purely secular principles, wishes to pay posthu- 
mous honors, on a scale of unprecedented magnificence, and at the bid- 
ding of the pope, and the countries under his dominion, Spain, Italy, 
and the Spanish- American Republics, to the Roman Catholic missionary 
and devotee, Christopher Columbus, who was sent out by the Church 
of Rome to convert the natives of a land whose locality he knew, having 
ascertained it definitely in Iceland before he started forth on his voyage 
to the western continent. 

As there are, therefore, no grounds whatsoever upon which the Gov- 
ernment of the United States can rightfully, or in accordance with facts, 
celebrate Columbus’s first voyage to this country as a discovery , a scien- 
tific achievement, or a triumph of maritime skill in any sense, to ascribe 
the credit of such a discovery to Columbus, without historical warrant, 
and by a national act, would be to publicly sanction the claims of the 
Church of Rome to this land, and virtually to invite the pope to come 
and take possession of it. 


r 


7 


This is the significance and value of the proposed Columbus celebra- 
tion, in 1892, to the Eoman Catholic countries that are so strongly urg- 
ing it. 

It is this that I protest against, in the name of historical truth and 
republican principles. I do it as an American, prizing and revering 
the Constitution under which I live, and wishing if preserved inviolate. 
I know that the Church of Eome destroyed the Eepublic of Iceland in 
the year 1262, and I know that the Church of Eome is steadily under- 
mining this Eepublic of ours. 

Instead of the contemplated Eornish triumph, the Columbus celebra- 
tion in 1892, 1 appeal most earnestly to the Government of the United 
States to give its full official recognition to the discovery of America 
by Leif Erikson, in A. D. 1000, and to commemorate this first great 
event in American history by a national celebration of the most mag- 
nificent description, to be in conjunction with the celebration of the 
forming of our Constitution, and held at the same date, 1889, inasmuch 
as Iceland was a proud and powerful republic at the period of the dis- 
covery of America, and should, by virtue of this, hold the highest place 
in our national regard. 

As a fitting way to commemorate the Icelandic discovery, perhaps the 
most fitting and appropriate, I beg to lay before Congress my plan for 
a Viking exhibition, which is intended to be a revelation of the brilliant 
Viking age in the Scandinavian North. Such an historical exhibition, 
contained within the walls of an ancient Icelandic Viking hall, of superb 
dimensions, would recall in the most vivid and objective manner the Vik- 
ing period, the mode of life and attainments of that age, justly styled 
the Augustan age of the North. The ancient Eepublic of Iceland and 
our modern one would thus be placed side by side, the Eepublic of the 
year 1000 and that of the year 1889, the United States honoring Iceland 
for the discovery of this land ! 

All of the essentials for such an historical exhibition are to be found 
in the museums and splendid collections of Europe, especially in the 
Scandinavian lands. The walls of the Viking hall could be decorated, 
as of old, with the swords and shields of the Norse warriors; on the 
table set apart for these could stand the horns and beakers from which 
these warriors drank their toasts to victorious leaders; specimens of 
their art in wood-carving, tapestry, etc., could adorn the panels and 
wainscot of the hall, and the sculptured form of one of these warriors, 
in armor, and of a Norse lady, one of the brave ancient type that felt 
such deep pride in the valiant deeds of the Vikings and who were such 
worthy companions of these, could stand there, the massive gold arm- 
lets and clasps, the ornate belt, worn by both, gleaming in the light of 
the central fires, which would also illumine the harp of the Icelandic 
skald, narrating to them some grand and heroic exploit of their renowned 
countrymen. Outside the hall could be a full-size reproduction of the 
famous Viking ship, exhumed at Gokstad, in Norway, in 1880. 

In the works of Sir George Dasent, of the late Prof. Eudolph Keyser, 
of the University of Christiania, and of many other Scandinavian 
authors and historians, are detailed descriptions of the construction 
aud interior appointments of these Viking halls, so that there would be 
no difficulty in reproducing them with a great degree of historic ac- 
curacy. It is from a work of Sir George Dasent, his translation of the 
u Saga of Burnt Njal,” that I have taken the facade and ground-plan 
of a Viking hall printed on my circular describing the plan of such an 
exhibition. This was designed by the Icelandic artist and antiquary, 
Sigurd Gudmundson, and is said to be correct. 


8 


Bat more important than all else would be the old Icelandic manu- 
scripts, the identical ones preserved in the Royal Library and the Arna- 
Magnaean collection, in Copenhagen, containing the accounts of the Ice- 
landic voyages of discovery to Greenland and Vinland, and the long 
o. cupuncy of those lands. The president of the Icelandic Antiquarian 
Some y, Herra Arm Thorsteinson, in a long, cordial letter written to me 
L orn Keykjavik, and in English, kindly gives me his opinion in regard to 
the importance of having these manuscripts in such an exhibition as the 
one proposed. He writes: 

The historical event of the discovery of America is built on written documents, or 
manuscripts from Iceland, which do not exist here now, but are in the several collec- 
tions of manuscripts, in the collection of Arni Magnussou, in Copenhagen, the Royal 
Library in Copenhagen, and so on. The exhibition of those manuscripts would in the 
most brilliant manner show the civilized world to whom we owe the discovery of 
America. 

All these objects, the visible relics of ripe civilization and culture, 
collected under the roof of au Icelandic Viking hall, and viewed amid 
their own proper surroundings, would be of supreme interest to the 
scholars and historians, to the thinking public of all the nations of Eu- 
rope, as well as of oar own land, while the beauty and novelty of 
the display would interest even the most superficial observers. It is 
needless for me to state that there has never been an historical exhibi- 
tion of this kind ; that is to say, the relics and antiquities of the Viking 
period have never been gathered together in a general exhibition, but 
the separate articles have remained in their respective museums, for 
the most part in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. While we have had 
u Old London ” and “Old Edinburg,” we have never had Old Iceland, 
and there are brilliant possibilities in that direction. In justice to 
myself I beg to say that the exhibition I propose is an entirely original 
plan of my own, not derived from any other source, and I have a very 
deep desire that it may be carried out. 

This Viking exhibition could be the basis of a permanent Icelandic or 
Scandinavian addition to the National Museum. Au expansion of the 
National Museum has been proposed by the directors so as to comprise 
a vast collection of American antiquities, records, and relics. Now, 
inasmuch as the Icelanders discovered this country and established set- 
tlements in New England that endured for several hundred years, any 
Icelandic or Norse relics of antiquity can properly be styled American 
ones, and should be assigned their due place in such a collection as that 
in the National Museum. The ship Leif Erikson crossed the ocean in 
must have closely resembled the Viking ship unearthed in Norway, and 
the buildings he and Thortinn Karlsefne erected in Vinland could not 
have been u like my proposed Viking hall, although, of course, smaller 
and simpler in style. It would be no small enjoyment to Americans to 
see just how the Icelanders, the ancient Norsemen, lived on our shores, 
the habits and customs that they brought with them here, as well as 
their sumptuous mode of life at home in Iceland. 

A detailed description of my proposed Viking exhibition, to be held 
in 1889, was printed, at the editor’s request, in the “ Independent” of 
February 16. 1 had the pleasure of mailing a copy to each member 

of this committee. 

To you, and to the Government, I now confide my cause, which is 
also, be it remembered, the cause of this country and of Iceland, as well 
as of the entire Scandinavian North. The world awaits your decision, 
the decision of this nation. 

Washington, D. 0., March 23, 1888. 


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